The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

SUPER Value's president yesterday said he was "forging right ahead" with the takeover of three former City Markets' locations, having put out "bids" for the re-equipping of the South Beach and Seagrapes sites, as he told Tribune Business: "We're aiming to be number one."

Mr Roberts, who is taking over the leasehold interests in those two stores and the Cable Beach outlet through his Quality Supermarkets entity, rather than Super Value, suggested that more than 200 jobs would be created once all three sites were open and fully operational.

While he would still "like" for the Cable Beach location to open this week before month's end, Mr Roberts indicated to Tribune Business that this might have been delayed by necessary modifications to the store's refrigeration systems - something he described as "the most important" component for any supermarket.

Confirming that the agreement between himself and City Markets' principal, Mark Finlayson, was effectively a 'done deal', Mr Roberts said he and his management team had accomplished their goals and were now focused on making Super Value and the three additional stores "the choice of the people".

He declined to comment, though, on how the former City Markets' Harbour Bay store, which together with the Cable Beach outlet was regarded as the two prime locations, had fallen into the hands of rival AML Foods with its Solomon's Fresh Market format. "You should speak to Mark [Finlayson]," was all that Mr Roberts would say.

Still, the addition of the three former City Markets' stores to the existing 10-strong Super Value chain gives Mr Roberts 13 supermarkets spread through Nassau, and makes him the dominant player in the mass market food retailing sector.

But, while Cable Beach is close to re-opening, the same cannot be said for the South Beach and Seagrapes Shopping Centre (Prince Charles Drive) locations. No activity at the latter has been seen by Tribune Business, Mr Roberts having warned previously that a multi-million dollar sum would be required to refit, equip and stock them.

"We're pushing right ahead," he said yesterday of the South Beach and Seagrapes locations. "Those stores need new equipment, and we have it out to bid. We'll be forging right ahead with them."

Indicating that the way forward would depend heavily on the value and nature of those equipment bids, Mr Roberts told Tribune Business: "There's a temptation to take short cuts and get one open right away, then re-model after.

"There's all sorts of things you can do, and when the bids come in we will make those decisions. When we see the bids we'll have a better idea and make some interesting decisions. We're full speed ahead."

The Super Value president confirmed that the Cable Beach store would hire "about 70" employees when it re-opened, adding: "You can't run a big store with less than that, and that's without the packing boys."

Both the South Beach and Seagrapes stores would require a "similar" number of employees when they re-opened, although Mr Roberts was unable to give a specific date for that. Still, this indicates that around 210 food retail positions will be created once they are all refitted.

"It's creating jobs, creating jobs right now," Mr Roberts told Tribune Business. "Then the country starts moving forward and the country starts coming back, and we'll start selling more groceries."

When it came to taking on former City Markets employees, Mr Roberts said Super Value and the new stores were "using as many as we can". He hinted that between the three new sites and the planned Solomon's Fresh Market at Harbour Bay, around 280-300 positions were set to be created - a figure close to City Markets' staff levels during its final days in business.

Effectively, Mr Roberts and AML Foods between them will be replacing many of the jobs lost with City Markets' demise, rather than creating new ones. Still, the latest developments do hold out the promise of stabilising employment levels in the food retail industry.

Several observers have also questioned the strategy behind Mr Roberts' decision to take over the three former City Markets' stores, given that the latter's business had already largely dispersed and been split between the food retail industry's remaining players, the bulk going to his existing Super Value chain.

Given that at least two of the stores, Cable Beach and Seagrapes, are in close proximity to existing Super Value sites, several have questioned privately to Tribune Business whether acquiring their leasehold interests would ultimately result in Mr Roberts taking business away from himself, unless he was able to take market share away from other players.

Yet Mr Roberts has argued that in the past, both City Markets and Super Value were able to make profits from stores in close proximity to each other, and it should be no different this time around.

When it came to the Cable Beach store, he told Tribune Business yesterday: "The most important thing in a supermarket is refrigeration, and we had to tweak the refrigeration.

"There were all sorts of roughings done that we had to pull out, short cuts in refrigeration, and we had to put in new components that run the refrigeration. That's what's taking the time. We know what we're doing and it's all behind us. It's just a matter of completion."

Confirming that the deal with Mr Finlayson and Trans-Island Traders, the vehicle that holds the Finlayson family's 78 per cent stake in City Markets, was effectively 'done', Mr Roberts said: "That's what we set out to do. We've accomplished our goals, and it's worked out very well.

"We'll only be a dominant player if we're the choice of the people. The stores are out there, the competition is out there. If we become the choice, we'll be the dominant player.

"If we don't it'll be mixed throughout the island with the Phil's, the Budget Meats, the independents. It depends on the public, and who serves the public best. We're aiming to be number one."